Boys Pen and Popular Side provide poetic inspiration for Dave (From St Helens Star)

Boys Pen and Popular Side provide poetic inspiration for Dave

6:22pm Wednesday 29th August 2012 in Latest News

WILLIAM Wordsworth may have had the breathtaking scenery of the English Lake District to inspire his poetry, but for retired school teacher Dave Dooley it is the memory of the boys pen, Tom Van Vollenhoven and those heroes in the red vee that have sparked him into verse.

Although there has been something of an explosion in the publication of books on the 13-man code in recent years, particularly where Saints are concerned, Dave’s Saints Verses is probably unique in its style.

Raised a stone’s throw away from Knowsley Road, Dave was very quickly taken in by the rugby league family – and his selection of poems, each written in a different and punchy style, covers six decades.

Great players, club characters and outstanding moments in the history of the Saints have been captured in 49 rhymes.

The content does not stop at the town’s boundaries. General rugby league themes are examined including a tribute to Don Fox and an irreverent accolade to the River Caves at the old Wigan stamping ground, Central Park.

The volume captures the nostalgia of Knowsley Road with unconventional offerings dedicated to Murphy, Vollenhoven and his former school teacher Llewellyn.

The roller coaster of the game’s emotions is experienced through the heights of victory and the despair of defeat.

Saints Verses also offers homilies to modern Super League greats like Keiron Cunningham, Steve Prescott and Paul Wellens.

The centrepiece features ‘The Fallen Five,’ a poem dedicated to the five Saints’ players who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War One.

Saints Verses is richly illustrated with fabulous match day photography by Saints photographer Bernard Platt with other rare images contributed by the Saints historian Alex Service.

Saints Verses costs £7 and is available from Wardleworths Bookshop (33 Westfield Street, St Helens) and from the Saints Superstore at Langtree Park.

Proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated equally between the Steve Prescott Foundation and the Saints Heritage Society.